Suspension-railroad without traction-cable.



G. M. VON HASSEL.

SUSPENSION RAILROAD WITHOUT TRACTION CABLE.

APPLICATION FILED 0011s, 1912.

1, 1 22,000, Patented Dec. 22, 1914.

' Fig.1.

:r i M liillllllllllllll lllllllllllllllllllfll Ellllllllllllllllllfifllf llllllllllllllllllill [[Iiinesses:

, UNTTE El STAES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORG M. voN HASSEL, or new scan, N. Y., assieivon, BY MESNEASSIGNMENTS, To! AMERICAN SUSPENSION RAILW'A'Yi COMPANY, or never,DELAWARE, A con- PORATION OF DELAWARE.

SUSPENSION-RAILRGAD "WITHOUT TRACTION-CABLE.

Specification. of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 16, 1912. Serial No. 726,169.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Gnono M. VON HASSEL,civil engineer, a citizen of Germany, residing at New York. in thecounty of New York and State of New York, have invented a new System ofSuspension-Railroad With out Traction-Cable, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to an improvement in suspension railways, moreparticularly a monorail system, the object of the invention being toprovide a novel monorail or sus pending device arranged to assist in thetransportation of the car or wagon hung thereupon, the car furnishingits own traction power.

By means of my improved monorail system traction cables are obviated anda line of indefinite length can be constructed as I do not depend uponany element other than the rail and power carried by the car togetherwith an intermediate element which is actuated by the power within thecar and which acts upon the rail direct.

I will now proceed to describe my invention in detail in connection withthe accompanying drawings, to which reference is had, and in whichFigure 1 is a side elevation illustrating a suspended car and a portionof a monorail embodying my improvement; Fig. 2 is a verticalcross-section thereof; Fig. 3 is a detail View of the driving or powerexerting mechanism. Fig. 4: is a similar view illustrating the powermechanism in combination with a smooth surface rail; Fig. 5 is a planview of the rail with branch rails; Fig. 6 is a detail view,illustrating a modified form of rail support.

As herein illustrated my improvement consists of a suspended rail orcable a provided with a continuous spiral or thread I). To force the carahead I provide a rotatable nut or spiral mechanism 0. To facilitate therotation of the nut c and to advance the car I provide the same withrollers or wheels d, the said rollers bearing against the smooth surfaceof the rail (1 and threads 5 and act as ball or roller bearings as wellas an element of a nut. Each end of the nut or spiral 0 is provided withplates 6 which carry the power transmitting medium. One surface of eachplate 6 is provided with a rail (not shown) against which wheels orrollers f bear, the said rollers acting to support the car through thebraces 72, that is to say, the shaft of each roller f supports itsadJacent end of the car. Motion is transmitted to the spiral or nut 0through suitwill revolve upon the axis of the shaft which supports thecar, the weight of the car acting to keep the rollers from rotatingaround the axis of the rail (4. The gears g may be rotated by anysuitable device, in this instance, by pulleys 1" 9" which are rotated bythe motor 1' (Fig. 3). To support the monorail, I provide, at intervals,suspension rods it, carried by supporting posts g. The plates 6 areprovided with slots on which allow for the passage of the rods 72.. Thedistance between the rods 7t will be such that a certain number ofrevolutions of the nut 0 will cause the slot m to aline with the saidrods. For instance, at the completion of a revolution the slot m Will bein a vertical position, and a rod in will be located say for instance,at every twenty threads or turns of the spiral b. It is obvious that therods it will pass through the slots m if the said rods are locatedsubstantially at the top of a thread, at which point the slots on willbe in a vertical position. The braces 70 may be of relatively thinmaterial. s is a support having the form of a tube provided on itsbottom with a longitudinal slit 2/; the object of this slit is to permitthe passage of the rod-system on which the wagons are suspended. Thediameter of this tube a must be larger than the diameter of thelocomotion-mechanism c, in order to per mit the free passage of thelatter through the tube ,9. If this support .9 is employed, the slot mon the front plates 6 can be dispensed with.

Although I have shown supporting posts g for suspending the device, Imay instead of this form of support employ a simple arrangement ofsupport such as is shown in dotted lines 7) in Fig. 2.

In Fig; is shown a plan view of the rail with branch rails, thereference characters in said figure indicating similar parts to thosedescribed for the other views, to w indicating the branch rails.

lVhat I claim and desire to secure by Let ters Patent is:

1. In a suspension rail-way, a rail, a rotatable propelling devicesuspended on said rail, means carried by and projecting beyond thesurface of the rail adapted to facilitate the advance of the propellingdevice, and a car suspended from said propelling device, said propellingdevice being rotatable at an angle to the axis of the shaft.

2. In a suspension rail-way, a rail, a continuous thread or spiralcarried by the rail, a rotatable nut carried by and projecting beyondthe surface thereof the rail and engaging the spiral thereupon, a carsuspended from said nut, and means to rotate said nut.

In a suspension rail-way, a rail, supports for said rail, spaced atintervals throughout the length thereof, supports for said railsupports, threads carried by said rail, a rotatable nut carried by saidrail, and engaging the threads thereupon, a plate lo cated at each endof said nut provided with a slot for the passage of said rail supports,a

* car, suspended from said nut, and means to rotate said nut.

4. In a suspension rail-way, a suspended rail, a thread carried by therail, suspending devices'carried by the rail adapted to support theobject to be moved, propelling means in engagement with the thread onsaid rail adapted to advance the suspended object, and means to actuatethe propelling means.

5. In a suspension railway, a rail, the surface of the rail beingspirally formed, a rotatable nut engaging the spiral surface of therail, a plate carried by each end of said nut, a rail mounted-on theouter surface of each plate, rollers bearing against said rail, bracessupporting said rollers, a car carried by said braces, and means torotate said plates.

6. In a suspension railway, a rail, the surface of the rail beingspirally formed, a rotatable nut engaging the spiral surface of therail, a plate carried by each end of said nut, a rail mounted on theouter surface of each plate, rollers bearing against said rail, bracessupporting said rollers, acar carried by said braces, gears carried bythe car, a gear carried by each plate in mesh therewith, and means torotate said gears.

7.. In a suspension railway, a rail,a thread carried by the rail, arotatable nut engaging said thread, a plate carried by each end of saidnut, a rail mounted on the outer surface of each plate, rollers bearingagainst said rail, braces supporting said rollers, a car carried by saidbraces, and means to rotate said plates.

GEORG' M. VON HASSEL. Witnesses:

O'rro Gr. LINDBERG, L. HEIL.

Copies of this patent-may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner 02? Patents,

Washington, I). C.

